2010 - The Year of Corporate Wellness?
With the introduction of government funding for employee wellbeing in March
this year, Rob Woollen looks at how things have changed since last January
and asks if corporate wellness has finally come of age.
This time in 2009 HR press was more likely to be talking about the damning
Darzi review of the NHS management, Barack Obama’s inauguration and
KPMG (offering 4-day weeks to employees to save jobs) than looking after
employee wellness. What will be the big news of 2010?
At the end of last year we had announced the HWW Challenge Fund, the
NICE guidelines on improving mental wellbeing at work, and the actions
recommended by Boorman review of NHS staff wellbeing. This year sees the
appointment of regional co-ordinators for health work and wellbeing by the
Department of Health and, with the acceptance by Boorman et al that the
public sector needs to put into action its declared wish to be an exemplar of
good employment, employee wellbeing will most definitely receive more
attention in 2010.
So what is new?
Health, Work and Wellbeing Challenge Fund
After what seems an age of data-collection, gathering evidence and milking
the pioneers of employee wellbeing for information, the government has
allocated some direct funding to SMEs in the UK to allow them to trial
wellness interventions. The £4m Challenge Fund which runs for two years
from March is aimed at helping businesses to see the positive effects of
wellness on profitability without financial risk. In return the department (which
is an executive of the DOH, the DWP and the HSE) will get valuable real-time
research on innovative approaches to wellbeing. The initial scheme for 201011 was massively over-subscribed in most areas so they have been able to
cherry-pick the best and most ground-breaking ideas.
In addition, the provision of occupational health services to small businesses
by the NHS is underway – with the OH advice line already launched and a
new occupational health centre at Aintree hospital due for completion this
summer1.
On completion of these two schemes, the collection of evidence should be
complete, and employers across the nation will benefit from the information
released.
1(www.health4work.nhs.uk)The
new advice line is available to all employers of up to 250
employees and provides advice on all elements of occupational health with an emphasis on
mental health. In pilot stage now it does not cover Manchester, but colleagues on Merseyside
and Yorkshire can already use the service. The new OH unit at Aintree hospital is actually for
the hospital staff, but will also be providing help and support to NHS and non-NHS staff in the
area.
Policies on mental health at work.
At the end of last year the government published two important resources for
those concerned with employee wellbeing. The NICE Guidelines for
Promoting Mental Wellbeing at Work comes down to a fairly comprehensive
list of actions to take to take positive action on wellbeing and is well worth a
look.
December’s release of Working Our Way to Better Mental Health sees an
attempt to fill the gaps in current provision for workplace mental wellbeing
amongst government departments. Specialist mental health advisors will be
located within job-centres and the government will work with employers to
improve early intervention and quick rehabilitation for those with mental (and
physical) health conditions. Key to the policy is early access to psychological
therapies and an understanding of the nature, prevalence and limitations of
common mental health conditions.
The Boorman Review
After the (then) health minister Lord Darzi’s fairly cutting review of the NHS in
2008, they brought in Steve Boorman, head of Occupational Health for Royal
Mail to look at employee wellbeing in the service. Some questioned the choice
of Boorman as the response to the report came unfortunately at a time of
postal strikes - hardly representative of good employer relations. Boorman,
however, had made significant impact on employee wellbeing in previous
years and produced a comprehensive publication which made interesting
reading and showed some very good examples of employee wellbeing as well
as some terrible ones. At the end of last year the government accepted all the
recommendations in the report. In heeding Boorman’s advice the
administration is making a strong statement about its commitment to, and its
belief in employee wellness. With our current budget deficit (and some
predicting a “double-dip recession”) the potential for massive savings (up to
£555m) in the NHS is exciting news indeed.
2010 – the year of corporate wellness?
Psychological wellbeing seems to be the focus of much of the research and
interest in corporate wellness in the UK over the past few years. Perhaps this
is with good reason as, in a country with a national health service,
interventions to improve physical wellness may take far longer to yield returns
for employers and seem to require greater investment. There has been some
mockery of the “gyms and salads brigade” which may stem from insufficient
understanding of what does make a viable physical health programme . A
healthy mind still needs a healthy body to carry it and I expect to see the
pendulum begin to return this year towards marrying physical and mental
wellbeing in the workplace. The two are inextricably linked - a fact
acknowledged by think-tank Foresight who included “Be Active” as one of the
5-a-day for mental health.
Will this year be the year of engaged, contented, and productive talent who
eat right, move often, have less time off and live longer? Well, Rome was not
built in a day, but we are certainly moving in the right direction.
Rob Woollen is corporate wellness manager for Rightway Complete Wellness
Solutions, providing wellbeing interventions and consultancy to employers of
all sizes. www.FitForWork.co.uk